


Steele's Story: The 101st Mountain Division

by CommissarCorgi34



Series: New Blood in an Old Universe: Stories of the Imperial Guard [1]
Category: Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Rising through the ranks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22451617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommissarCorgi34/pseuds/CommissarCorgi34
Summary: A young Imperial Guard Sargent stumbles on a plot of his superiors that could end up killing the entire Planetary Defense Force. A healthy mix of battles, investigation, humor, and memorable characters. Based off my personal Imperial Guard army.
Series: New Blood in an Old Universe: Stories of the Imperial Guard [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2051112
Kudos: 2





	1. Field Promotion

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! This is the first of my Warhammer stories, but their definitely will be more! Many of the other stories include the 101st so this kind of the beginning of all of those writings. Please leave comments so I can be a better writer, enjoy!

+++Location: Ultima Segmentum. Planet Designation: Mountainous Biosphere 101. Fortification Line Alpha+++

Short exert from Neglected by the Munitorium: A List of Poorly Named Planets.

Mountainous Biosphere 101 is the most famous of a group of planets on the edge of the Ultima Segmentum that were named based on the description of an adept of a prominent Magos Geologist. The explanation was provided that the Magos names were much too long, so the Adept used the most basic descriptions. These planets are relatively uninteresting, producing raw materials and filling tithes promptly. The most famous of the armies is the 101st Mountain Division lead by their excentric commander, Captain Steele, who's legacy begun after an ork rok landed on the planet, threatening the planetary Capital...

Sargent Steele

"My squad!" I shouted over the shouts and screams of men and the bellowing roars of orks. "Follow me!" I pointed my chainsword in the direction of the back lines. We started jogging towards the platoon command squad.

"Sargent! We're being told to return to the fight!" Jensen yelled as she caught up with me despite lugging a thirty-pound voxcaster on her back. "They're threatening to send a commissar!" I cursed under my breath. Jensen was my Corporal and my most trusted squadmate. She was stockily built, made even bulkier looking with her vox on her back. She had short trimmed brown hair underneath her grey blue helmet.

"Tell them to feel free as long as they are ready to fight some orks! Get the McKnight on the horn! Tell him his about to be hit from the flank!" I shouted to her as I saw a rickety trukk billowing black smoke as it rumbled its way towards the small, five man squad in the back of our lines. "Thomas!" I turned as shouted as the stout man with a grenade launcher trotted up by me. His helmet bounced as the helmet strap dangled uselessly to the side. His square face definitely wasn't a pretty sight, but his skills in demolitions couldn't be argued. 

"Yes, Sarg?" He asked.

"I need you to stop that shambling assortment of scrap metal." I said pointing to the sad excuse for a vehicle that had pieces of metal hanging off by a bolt and some just straight up fell off.

"They aren't responding sir!" Jensen told me.

"I got 'em." Thomas smiled with his lho stick still in his mouth. Pomf! The grenade launcher fired and hit the trukk square in the side. A massive explosion ripped through the hull as the trukk careened and skidded to a stop by the command squad that shifted back away as they finally noticed the vehicle. Ten green skins staggered out and bickered before the Nob shouted and smacked them in the back of the head with a big pole with an ork insignia on it.

"Nice shot!" I grunted to the smiling man as he switched out the drum magazine on the grenade launcher. "Fix bayonets!" I shouted as we got in close but unfortunately the Nob got them running as the charged McKnight. His men opened up with their lasguns but only felled a couple of the xenos. "Kill 'em all!" I shouted charging. The first one didn't even see me coming before my chainsword bit into its shoulder and exited by the hip. I saw another next to me fall as three bayonets went through its back followed by boots to slam it down to the lush grass. A third ork boy went down as Jensen jumped on its back and stabbed it in the throat with her combat knife. I saw McKnight on the ground as his medic tried to shield him.

"Hey Greenie!" I shouted distracting the Nob from cleaving the poor medic in half. "How 'bout you pick on someone your own size!" I shouted challenging him.

"Heh, 'upid humie." The Nob chuckled. I stepped in and swung but glanced off the plate steel on his chest. He swung his massive axe with a chainsword like blade whirling. I grunted as I deflected the blow with my sword before swinging across my body and tearing into his unprotected side. I pulled it out smirking but not for long as he let out a shout and swung down at me. I deflected again but the force of the blow broke my sword in half making me curse.

"Sarg!" I heard Jensen shout, but she was on the other side of the massive ork. "Catch!" She threw her knife but it just lodged in the back of the orks shoulder making me sigh. I charged and slid between its legs at the last second as it struggled to lift its big choppa out of the ground. I jumped onto its back and grabbed the knife as I started to swing away wildly. It grunted as it tried to swat me off. I managed to get my arm around and slam it into the creature's throat. It gurgled in surprise as it fell to its knees. I jumped off and slashed its throat again as it fell to the ground finally dead. I was covered in brackish ichor and grim as I spun the knife and handed it to Jensen.

"Thanks for the help, though I think you need some more training on knife throwing." I grinned as she rolled her eyes and wiped the knife of her grey pant leg and sheathed it. "Who do we have left?" I asked.

"You, Ash, Johnson, and I." She reported grimly.

"Damn." I muttered shaking my head. I picked up my broken chainsword and sighed.

"And this is why we can't have nice things." Jensen muttered earning a glare.

"Sargent!" I heard an unfamiliar voice say that I could only explain as refined. I saw the medic beckon me over where he was kneeling by the platoon commander.

"Lieutenant McKnight, what do you need sir?" I asked kneeling next to the man. He was one of the older men in the army in his fifties, with salt and pepper hair and a receding hairline. He had been my drill instructor when I got in the force and had become a platoon commander when the orks had come to the planet. He had been commander for years back when we actually were a crusading army. He had been clipped in the shoulder by the axe of the Nob but luckily the armor had taken some of the blow so it was only two or three inches deep.

"Thanks for saving my ass son." He smiled up at me.

"Someone's got to make sure that you don't get yourself killed." I smirked.

"I think I'm going to retake that job as the master of training." He chuckled.

"I think that might be a good idea sir."

"I want you to take my place as of now. Take Phillips and get a team together, they're going to need some help." He said patting my shoulder. I looked up and inspected Phillips who was a short thin man who looked like a good breeze could knock him over. But I could tell by the fact that McKnight was still conscious that he was a good medic. He wore a red beret and had a very fancy mustache, a good ten years older than me at least.

"I'd be honored sir." I said as he fumbled with his belt.

"Here, take this." He said handing me a book that I knew was full of information for higher officers. He also handed me his scabbard and self converted hot shot laspistol.

"Sir, I can't take your sword, you were…"

"Yeah, I know, Dante said it was the weapon of a warrior. I'm retiring, use it well." He smiled before I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Steele, what's the plan?" Jensen asked as I stood and looped the scabbard around my belt and holstered the pistol.

"You've been promoted." I said before addressing all of my remaining men. "Listen up, I've been promoted to Lieutenant and I need a team. Ash, grab that heavy flamer." I told my pyromaniac friend who grinned. "Johnson, grab the banner and any other weapon you want. Phillips, check your supplies and Jensen, I'll give you our new clearance code." I finished. "And make it fast we got an army to lead!" I put in making them start running to get their jobs done. I gave Jensen the codes and took the vox from her until she gave me the thumbs up.

"Calling Command." I said before waiting a few seconds. "I repeat, calling command."

"Golden Throne, what do you want?" An irritated voice answered as me and Jensen gave each other confused looks.

"Command, this is Sargent Steele of F squad. McKnight has been injured and is en route to the city. He appointed me as Platoon Commander, what are our orders?"

"Oh, is that right. You can't just become the Commander, Sargent. You need the clearance codes." The voice replied making me grit my teeth.

"Clearance code is echo romeo indigo charlie alpha." I said reading the piece of paper from McKnight's handbook.

"Oh, congratulations, hopefully your better than the last one." He commented lazily as Jensen's eyes widened as I bite my tongue.

"What are our orders?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Hold until relieved." The line clicked dead as I let loose a string of curses.

"What are your orders? Sir." She added shakily as an afterthought.

"No, no 'sir' Jensen." I said with a soft smile. I had been through everything with the girl next to me ever since boot camp. "Give me a line to all the squads." I said as she fiddled with the controls on her arm before nodding.

"Listen up, McKnight was injured, so I'm in charge now. Names Commander Steele. We have orders to hold the position, so we aren't losing an inch of ground to these dirty Xenos!" I told them, trying to sound confident.

"Are we getting support?" One asked.

"Heavy weapons?" Another asked hopeful.

"How long are we holding?" Jensen glanced at me worried as I thought.

"We have the Emperor on our side and the bravest men this side of the Astartes, so we will hold our position for as long as the Emperor wills it!" I said with confidence I didn't have. "So, say your prayers, sharpen your bayonets, and plant your feet Guardsman. For today, we will be like the walls of Terra itself and nothing short of titans will break us!" I shouted into the vox with fire in my voice. "Dismissed." I said before clipping it on to Jensen's pack. I looked at my squad around me who had return from their tasks. "How was that?" I asked innocently.

"I think you have them ready to attack a titan with just some rocks." Johnson commented making the others laugh.

"Well let's get going." I commented pointing to the top of hill that we were on. "I want every guardsman to see us." I said as we started walking.

I looked over my men and was proud to see men who would usually try to run from the massive tide of green in front of them standing strong. To our back was the bridge that lead to our city that crossed over the massive river. In front of us was an arc of fifty Conscripts that were looking terrified of the green tide but they were more scared of the man in the wide black and red hat that paced back and forth holding a bolt pistol menacingly screaming about faith. In front of them was five squads of ten men each. We had erected simple wooden fences with metal leaned against them that were cover for our men. In front of that was a body covered no-man's-land that sporadically was hit with mortars. Just beyond that was the tree line which we heard the battle cry rise from. A bellow of 'Waaaaaaagh!' was heard across the clearing. I grabbed my vox again.

"Grenadiers, target the trukks, everyone else hit the closest foot slogger!" I shouted as I watched the tide of boyz charge out of the trees as I gave points for the trukks that I couldn't see but I could see the path they carved in the trees. I smiled as I heard explosions and saw black smoke from two of the three lines. I heard Sergeants yelling orders as lasfire washed over the boyz dropping many of them but not nearly enough. The orks unleashed everything they had as our men tried to take cover behind the make shift defensive wall. I saw a few rokkits spiral out of barrels and hit the lines blowing a hole in the middle of the ranks but most spiraled into the air and exploded, distracting some of the boyz.

"Fire on my mark! First rank fire! Second rank fire! Third rank fire!" I drilled rhythmically as the men's hands flew on their lasguns, muscle memory from drill sergeants hammering away at this same pace for hours. Orks fell as they charged almost completely preventing any forward progress.

"Steele!" Jensen caught my attention as I watched my commands be followed. "Our middle is thinning, they are getting hit hard." She said pointing out the two squads that were about half their original strength. Just then a looted wagon broke through the tree line. It was a monstrosity that might have once been a Leman Russ tank but now it was covered in shabby metal plating that occasionally shook loose and fell off or hung on precariously. Grots on the outside fired off little pistols while an ork boy fired a rokkit which blew a hole in the barricade and incinerated a couple nearby men.

"All grenadiers, kill that monstrosity!" I shouted as at got closer to the front line. "Commissar Andrews! Get ready to fill in that gap!" I shouted before throwing the vox back on Jensen's pack again and pulled out my sword. "Follow me! They need our help!" I shouted as everyone sprinted to catch up with me.

"Sir, are you sure this is a good idea?" Phillips asked trying to catch up. One of the grots threw a wrench at me which I side stepped and shot the grot off the tank.

"I'm not going to sit by and watch my men be slaughtered!" I shouted back. Johnson fired his plasma pistol as grenades exploded against the hull. His shot blew the head off the driver making it go sideways before skidding to a stop, about ten feet from the barricade. "Nice shot!" I smiled as he grinned. Just then the drivers body was shoved out of the hatch as a huge Nob appeared. "Emperor damn it." I growled as I saw the squad in front of us staring at their new enemy with horror on their faces. I saw half the men turn to start run but they stopped when they saw us.

"Come on boys! The commander is with us!" One shouted as they all started to charge the Nobs.

"For McKnight!" Johnson shouted as he blew a hole through one of the Nobs shoulder. Ash braced and blasted a burning wave of promethium on to the orks as the squad's flamer joined in. As Jensen fired her lasgun to little effect while my new pistol cut through their armor cleanly. Unfortunately that's when I heard a savage yell as a unit of boyz charged. The squad turned and squeezed off a few shots but only the flamer managed to actually stop one. We let loose and brought down two nobz.

"Commissar!" I shouted right as the boyz and still lightly burning nobz hit our lines. I spun out of the way of a big choppa and slammed the sword into the nobs chest as I shot it in the head before I pulled my blade out. Jensen slashed one xenos stubby legs with a bayonet and then, while it was distracted by the pain she put the bayonet in its throat and fired a shot out the other side. Ash sliced one but then was caught by an upper cut that sent him flying. Johnson was smacking boyz with the banner and then shooting them. Phillips was cowering as three guardsmen bayoneted a nob and together shot it full of holes.

"Phillips!" I shouted at the cowering man. "Go make sure Ash is still breathing!" I shouted before glancing a choppa to the side and then shooting the owner.

"Y-Yes sir!" He squeaked scurrying over to the pyromaniac. Finally, I heard a battle cry from obviously scared and inexperienced men. The conscripts flooded the melee as even I was knocked back by the charging men. I grinned and raised my sword.

"For the Emperor!" I shouted slicing down orks as fast as I could move my arm. I saw a cowering conscript about to be cut in half by an ork. I shot it in the head and sliced across its chest dropping the beast. I holstered my pistol as the last of the orks were dead or dying. I extended my hand to the stunned guardsman. "Need some help?" I asked as I helped him to his feet.

"T-Thank you, sir!" He said with wide eyes making me smile.

"Don't call me sir, makes me sound like a big wig." I said. "Just Commander, or Commander Steele will do." I smiled before turning back to Jensen who had some blood coming from her forehead and her helmet was missing.

"Orks, have pulled back. We calculate…" I cut her off.

"What happened to you? Are you okay?" I asked worried but she waved me off.

"Yeah, the helmet took the brunt of the hit." She grunted as she picked up her cracked helmet and pulled out her headset out of the helmet and put it on. "Command on the line." She said as I grabbed the vox.

"Steele here." I said as the same annoyed voice answered.

"You are being relieved at daybreak. The Captain will speak with you when you return." The line clicked off.

"Well… he's nice." She commented as she changed the channel. "All call." She nodded.

"Command has called." I started. "They were so impressed with your amazing show of will and power that they feel confident in giving the other platoon more time to assemble their forces and hopefully pull from the hundred and first armored division." I said as Janson raised an eyebrow. "We will be relieved at day break and we will be received as heroes! Hold fast men, we will fall anything that those greenskin xenos can throw at us! Dismissed." I said hanging up.

"So… what's this I hear about the hundred and first armor?" Jensen asked.

"One can hope." I shrugged.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning from the front lines, Steele stumbles upon something odd.

Steele

"Jensen, get on the horn." I said grinningly tiredly. "Tell the boys to hold until there is a man standing where they are now." I walked towards the column of guard marching towards me. "Boy, are we glad to see you!" I shouted to the man at the front of the regiment. He turned and directed his men to replace my men.

"Steele, congratulations on the promotion!" Smith smiled shaking my hand.

"Thank you, sir." I shook the platoon commanders hand.

"Give me the gist." He said.

"Well we went from sixty guard and fifty conscripts to thirty guard and thirty conscripts." I said showing him our defensive formation.

"That's some of the highest causalities we've seen." He shook his head sadly.

"Well we had no heavy weapons and we were stationed for two days!" I stressed. "Any word on what the holdup was?" I asked but he shook his head.

"Ratling word is that we got a shipment but Command is holding back for some reason." Smith said making me growl.

"I'm meeting the Captain soon, I'll make sure to find out why." I growled.

"Watch your tongue around him Steele, he'd be happy to throw you in a penal legion and replace one of you with one of his lap dogs." He warned.

"In that case, don't forget to write." I smirked. "You stay safe, hopefully next time you see me, I'll be leading armor to wipe out these xenos filth." I said making him smile.

"I'm looking forward to it." He said before I walked over to my tired ragged column.

"Let's get back home!" I shouted signaling them to march the three clicks to the city.

The city was not anything impressive to most but on the small relatively sparsely populated and quite little agiworld, it was a bastion. The sides were flanked by large drops into the sea below. The city was surrounded by thick, twenty five foot walls that were manned by the local PDF, the few that hadn't been conscripted yet. The streets on the outer part of the city where flanked by two to three story houses and shops. In the middle of the city was a massive unsightly spire that held all of the higher up of the planet and served as our port as it was covered on landing pads.

As we entered we saw maybe fifty women who lined the main street. Some threw flowers and another items to us as we smiled tiredly. One girl smiled at Johnson and a bandaged Ash, easily coaxing them over. Me and Jensen grabbed the two and started escorting them away.

"Oh, come on!" Ash complained as we shoved them.

"The Commissar is right behind you, you morons!" Jensen chimed smacking them in the back of the head as I grinned tiredly.

"Commander!" I heard someone from behind me call out. I turned to see a group of sergeants trotting up to me.

"What do you need?" I asked.

"We wanted to know what our orders are." He said looking expectant. 

"Oh, yeah, forgot about that." I said trying to think quickly. "First step is get the wounded patched up, second, get some rations in them. And then I want them in their racks dreaming of Sororitas ASAP." I said making some of the men chuckle but earned me a glare from one of the female sergeants. "Or Astartes." I shrugged.

"I'll get right on that sir." She replied sarcastically rolling her eyes. The sergeants all started to walk away as I headed back to my squad.

"Speaking of which. Phillips, take Ash down to get checked out by the med tent and resupply while you're there." I commented.

"I'll go with them too." Johnson commented not wanting to leave his friend.

"Sounds good, actually Phillips, can I borrow some gauze?" I asked as he nodded and handed me some from his pack. "Thanks, well see you back at the racks." I said before we started off.

"So where are you heading?" She asked me.

"I need to stop by the armory." I explained. "Where are you going?" I asked her.

"Eh, might as well help you if you don't mind." She said.

"Yeah, I could use the help." I smiled as we started through the tightly packed streets as smoke rose from the alleys. We passed a Garrison recruit who was on watch who saluted catching us off guard. He must have been maybe sixteen years old with buck teeth and freckles. His armor was much too big for him but so was his lasgun. He had a white strip on his armor that showed he was a cadet training to be a guardsman. He seemed to be a squad commander from the dash on his shoulder.

"Good morning sir, can I help you in anyway?" He asked standing at attention.

"At ease?" I said not used to being saluted.

"It's an honor to meet you sir!" He said wide eyed and beaming.

"It is?" Jensen asked cocking her eyebrow but before she could make a joke at my expense he cut her off.

"Why yes! I heard about the amazing leadership you displayed!" He said excitedly. "I've never heard of a guardsman killing a nob with only a knife before! Even though that as a very large knife." He said looking at the scabbard on my left hip.

"Oh, this wasn't the knife!" I said surprised. "Commander McKnight gave it to me. I just used a standard knife."

"That's McKnight's sword?" He asked surprised. "Are the rumors about it true?" He looked at the sword with awe now, making me nod.

"Chapter Master Dante himself forged this blade and give it to McKnight after he lead a fearless charge on a heretic beast allowing the Archangel to recover and strike the heretic down." I smiled remembering the old story of the blade as the recruit looked on in amazement. "Would you happen to know if we have had any big shipments while we were gone?"

"Actually, yes sir I do!" He said excited. "I was on guard duty for a shipment to the munition storage facility yesterday. A ton of crates were being brought in on a bunch of the trucks. Except then a bunch of Glo…" He stopped remembering that he was talking to an officer. "Tempestors came in and took the gear and kicked us out."

"Glory Boys?" Jensen said surprised as the recruit gulped and nodded.

"But I thought we weren't supposed to call them that?" He asked making us chuckle.

"I'll stop when those tin cans stop acting like they are the greatest thing since recaf!" Jensen chuckled.

"But we only have one group of them here and they're under direct orders from the commander." I said tapping my chin.

"But why would the Commander want to take the supplies from the Guard?" The cadet asked.

"That's what I'm wondering. You know where they took the gear?"

"I'm not completely sure but I know all the Glory Boys are over at their barracks and aren't letting anyone near it. Road blocks and everything!" He said.

"Well that's a start." I said. "Thank you for your help cadet." I said smiling at the young man.

"It was an honor to help you." He said before grabbing a piece of paper and scribbling on it and handing it to Jensen who looked confused as she took it. "If you need any help, that's my vox channel. I know my squad will help you if you ask. I could probably talk to a few of the other squad leaders." He said.

"I will keep that in mind if I need some help." I smiled before giving him a quick salute and started towards the tempestor barracks.

"What are you doing Steele?" Jensen asked me.

"Something isn't right up top." I told her. "If we have weapons then why the hell aren't we striking back against the Greenskins before they get stronger?"

"Keep your voice down! Are you saying you think the Commander wants us to lose?" She hissed.

"I don't know yet, Jen. I just want to stop by the barracks and figure out if the rumors are true." I said as she shook her head.

"This isn't a good idea." She grumbled.

"You don't have to come with me." I said as I saw the barracks.

"I'm not leaving you to get shot." She hissed right before I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey! This is a restricted area!" A crackly voice shouted in my ear as I turned to see the mask of a tempestor in my face. He had another one by his side who looked identical except not as big.

"Why?" I snapped back.

"W-We…" He started before another cut in.

"Nothing a sergeant needs to worry about!" The second glory boy snapped.

"How about the platoon commander?" Jensen shot in with a smirk making them glance at each other.

"Every one of the platoon commanders has been briefed on the… delicate nature of this area." Tin Can two answered.

"Well I just got promoted so maybe you should enlighten me." I growled.

"You will be briefed tonight." They let go of me.

"Yeah away from prying ears." Tin Can one shot at Jensen who growled.

"I'm looking forward to it." I growled. "Let's go Jensen, we have stuff to do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the second chapter! Their will be a minor time skip to chapter three. Comments are always welcome!


	3. Glory Boys and Bolt Pistols

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jensen leads Steele's command squad on some stealth operations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! We are skipping ahead to that night, and changing to Jensen's point of view. Enjoy!

Jensen

The only thing that was keeping me awake was the cold, bitter, recaf by my head. I was laying on a roof across from our barracks. My voxcaster was by me on the roof so I could pull the ratty cloak around myself as I scanned the area before looking down my scope to make sure Steele was still in his bed by the side entrance. I put my hair in a short ponytail as my helmet couldn't fit over my bandages so I had ditched it. I sighed and gulped down some of my cold drink with a wince as I checked the time. It was an hour before light and nothing had happened.

"Maybe he didn't piss them off enough." I mused with a soft smile. "That would definitely be a first." Just then I heard a faint clunk near the apartments where I was spying from. I perked up and trained my scope on the alley as five men in dark armor snuck up to the side door. One fiddled with the lock as the other four covered him with rifles drawn. The one at the door nodded before they went in and I heard some muffled shouts and clanking of armor on armor. I resisted the urge to pull the trigger as I was aimed on the leaders head. They came out holding Steele who was bound up. I checked my frequencies on my pack until I hit theirs. It was encrypted but that hadn't stopped me from easily cracking it earlier.

"That was easy, no one in his squad was there!" One grunted as I threw on my pack and started scrambling my way down the building.

"Yeah the one was on watch duty and the others are still in the infirmary." Another chuckled as I landed in the alley. I padded behind them as silently as I could while they made their way towards their barracks. I ran up and braced myself against the wall peeking around as the men through the Steele in the back of a Valkyrie fighter as they talked with some other guards.

"We are heading up to the commander. You got it here?" One asked a guard who chuckled.

"We got twenty men here sir, it'd take a Leman Russ to get rid of us." He chuckled before the other man got on the plane. Right then I heard foot steps behind me and turned ready to shoot.

"Please Emperor, don't shoot!" Phillips squeaked.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I hissed grabbing his shoulder and walking us to the other side of the building before slamming him to the wall.

"I could very well ask you the same thing!" He snapped so I clamped my hand over his mouth and put my finger to my lips as I heard boots. I looked around before spotting some cover. I pushed the medic and he fell into a trash bin as I jumped in after him closing it. I held my hand over Phillips mouth as I sat on top of him.

"I swear I heard someone back here." The man said as another walked up next to him.

"You've been drinking too much recaf man." The other guard chimed. "Nothing back here." He chimed as they walk away.

"Keep quiet unless you want get shot!" I hissed before I climbed out of the bin with my rifle at the ready.

"What the hell was that all about?" He hissed trying to wipe himself off.

"I just saved your life doc, just be happy I did." I growled as I peeked around the corner.

"What are you doing in this area?" He asked as I fiddled with the vox channel.

"We are checking out what they are hiding, Steele thinks someone up top is withholding heavy weapons and considering they just kidnapped him for asking what was here, I'm starting to believe him that something isn't right here."

"Who is 'we'?" He asked as the door behind us opened.

"Hey, in here!" Johnson hissed as I ran over to him. "Why'd you bring the doc?" He asked closing the door.

"I didn't! He followed me here." I said as I threw my rifle over my shoulder. "You can just stay here if you want doc."

"Good because I want to get any deeper then you morons already are." He said turning his nose up at me.

"Where's Ash?" I asked looking around the barren grey entryway with two pictures on the wall.

"Entertaining our guests." He said as we followed him upstairs. We walked into a hallway and entered a small room at the end of the hall. Ash was talking with a young blonde woman who had a little blonde girl in her lap. Ash was average build, a little on the skinny side, with short cropped black hair, with green eyes.

"Jen, meet Emma and her mom Megan. They are letting us borrow their window." Ash said as he saw me. I smiled and shook the woman's hand.

"Nice to meet you Ma'am." I said smiling. "So, what is the situation?" I asked slinging my heavy pack onto the bed.

"Twenty men, ten on patrol." Ash said. "It's going to be a tough nut to crack unless we get rid of them."

"Don't worry, I got that covered." I smiled as I finished my adjustments. "Garrison Commander, this is Guardsman Jensen." I radioed as a tired and confused voice answered.

"Um hello? Who is this?"

"Commander Steele's vox op." I said as he finally understood.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, what can I do for you?" He answered.

"We are trying to figure out what is in the barracks and we need a distraction and maybe a few men to help us." I told him. "Maybe if something exploded, the guards would go to check it out?"

"I have just the thing!" He said deviously.

"Okay send as many men as you need for the distraction then send the rest to the barracks." I said. "And wait for my signal to go in the base."

"Roger that. I'll signal when I'm in position." He said before clicking off.

"So, what is the distraction?" Ash asked.

"I have no clue, just watch for when the guards start running." I said with a shrug.

****

We didn't have to ask what the distraction was as it turned out. Megan was telling us about the rude tempestors over a cup of recaf when we heard a massive explosion rip through the air, near the spaceport. We started readying our gear as we saw the guards start running. We thanked the women before throwing open the window and scrambling our way to the ground. I was the first on the ground and bent down as I ran up to the barracks as the others followed me. They all went to different sides of the barracks. I crouched behind the trashcan as I heard their radios explode.

"You five! Get out there and secure the perimeter!"

"Yes sir!"

"Five Glories heading our way." I whispered into my earpiece. I heard footsteps as I grabbed my rifle by the barrel. The man appeared but before he could even react I swung my rifle and hit him in the jaw sending him skidding back. His rifle skidded away from him as he tried to get to his feet but I slammed my boot into his helmet knocking him out.

"Hey! You there!" One shouted as I threw my knife that went through his hellgun. "What the?" He said looking at the rifle before I slammed into him shoulder first and slammed him back. He stood and pulled out a knife and stabbed for me. I blocked it to the side with my armored cuff and punched him in the side of the head but regretted it immediately. I yelped shaking my bruised my hand as he swung and sliced lightly across my forearm as I stumbled backward. Lucky just then a blur of dark blue armor slammed into him and he hit his head on the wall and passed out. I walked over and helped the medic up off the ground.

"What happened to not wanting to get involved?" I commented helping him up as he grunted.

"I knew I'd have to put you back together again." He grumbled.

"Thanks, Phillips, now help me drag these guys out of the way." I said grabbing one of the men's arms and dragged him over to the door. Ash and Johnson came around the corner carrying three unconscious tempestors over their shoulders. "We got five left inside." I told them as we prepped by the door. I knocked on the door and crouched down by the door. Everyone but Phillips crouched down as the door slid open as his eyes widened.

"Oh! Hi?" He said as him and the guard tried to figure out what was going on.

"Hey! What are you…" He stepped out as I came up with the butt of my rifle into his throat. He staggered coughing as I slammed the rifle down on the back of his head sending him into the floor head first knocking him out.

"Thanks for the distraction Phillips." I smiled patting him on the back as he stood looking terrified. "We got to get to the garage, but there are four more."

"One for each of us." Johnson smiled as he spun the metal pipe in his hands. We crept further into the barracks before I spotted a man making his way into the garage. We crept closer but the door hissed closed making me curse. Ash ran over and checked the panel. "Can you pick it?" I asked but he shook his head.

"Sorry, but they rewrote the system. The door only opens if they let someone in." He said as I cursed before getting an idea.

"I have an idea." I smiled as I walked backed to the unconscious guard. "Everybody turn around." I said as I undid my armor.

****

"I caught one of these morons snooping around outside." I snarled shoving Johnson forward.

"A normal guardsman?" The Tempestor asked as I nodded. "Good, they won't miss him. Let's get some information out of him." He said opening the door making me smile under my helmet. I walked in and quickly let go of Johnson and punched the man in the face.

"What the!" Another yelled as Ash and Phillips jumped in. We were on a ledge next to a control booth and a ladder in front of us going down into a giant garage. The walls were lined with boxes marked 'heavy weapons' and in the middle of the room were three chimeras. Unfortunately, the place had at least a dozen Glory Boys in it, many more than I expected. I cursed as I got on my vox.

"Steele, green light, I repeat, we found the weapons and armor." I said but I just heard a grunt before static took the line. "Let's go!" I shouted before jumping off and slamming down on a man before pulling out the riot batons from the backpack. I heard a yell behind me as I saw a man charging me with a chainsword. I spun the nightstick like baton on my arm before catching the sword on it before slamming the other riot stick into his gut, doubling him over. I grabbed his batons and threw them to Johnson who grinned.

"Thanks!" He smiled before charging into a Scion.

I charged a group of three men as they fired pistols at me, but they bounced off the armor. I slid on my knees going under their punches before tackling the middle man. I headbutted his forehead knocking him out before facing the other two. They pointed their pistols but I was faster. I leapt and grabbed onto one of the lasgun arrays on the chimera, swinging off of it and kicked the two men's unprotected faces.

I heard a shout so I jumped onto the chimera and started towards it but suddenly I got clothes lined. I rolled over, groaning as I shook my head. My helmet's screen was cracked and sparking so I ripped it free of my head as I see a huge man standing over me. He had the standard Tempestor armor but had a huge jacket draped over his shoulders that was had an impressive array of medals and awards on it. He had a gray five o'clock shadow, an angry scowl chewing on his cigar, all topped with a red beret.

"I'm impressed, you handle yourself well." He grunted. "I could use someone like you on my team, what do you say." I answered by pushing myself into a swift kick to his face as I rolled to my feet. He cursed spitting up blood and cigar as a chattering servo-skull hovered behind him and its metal maniacal arms grabbed his jacket off of his broad shoulders.

"You're a traitor!" I shouted as he pulled out his bolt pistol and fancy knife.

"It isn't wise to talk back to your superiors, girl." He growled. "And you are the one disobeying orders!" He pointed out.

"Corrupt orders that mean the death of hundreds of guardsmen!" I shouted back.

"What do I care about guardsmen?" He laughed. "The Commander's plan is above grunts! When we take over we will have full control before we crush the greenskins and the armored monstrosity they are building!" He said before pointing the bolt pistol at me. "So, what's another dead guardsman?" I lunged and hit the gun to the side and the bolt exploded on the surface of the armored transport. I slammed my baton into him so hard that it broke in half but only managed to stun him. I punched him in the nose and pulled my knife, knowing that nonlethal was no longer an option, getting into a fighting stance. He wiped the blood that was trickling from his nose growling.

"You should care about the families they have that are left in grief!" I spit as I went for a punch, but he kicked me in the stomach, luckily the armor repelled the hit. He slashed with his knife but I blocked it with my gauntlets as he started towards me. I knocked his blade aside with my left as I slashed with my right hand and caught him in the shoulder were there was no armor with my knife.

"Graugh!" He shouted as he swung blindly as I backed away smirking. He tripped over a lasgun array and landed on his face but flailed to his back. "You bitch!" He shouted as I smiled.

"Just give up now, I don't want to have to hurt you anymore than I already have." I said extending my hand. He grabbed it but pulled me off balance as he revealed his pistol and fired a round which broke partially through the armor and went into my stomach making my eyes widen as I staggered back as he smiled wiping his face again. I staggered back as he raised his bolt pistol.

"Your dismissed guardsman." He smirked before a blur of blue armor and cursing slammed into the man.

"Jen! Finish him!" I heard Johnson yell as he wrestled the man. I shook my head and looked around and saw the bolt pistol lying next to me. I picked it up as the man sat on top of Johnson beating him senseless.

"Hey asshole!" I shouted clutching my stomach with one hand. He looked up and his eyes widened. "This is for the guardsman you killed." I growled before pulling the trigger. His surprised look exploded in a rain of carnage as his body tumbled sideways off the vehicle with a sickening splat. I fell to my knees and dropped the pistol.

"Guardsman Jensen!" I faintly Phillips call as he ran over and caught me as I fell backwards.

"T-Tell the g-garrison to h-help defend." I mumbled before darkness swallowed everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the change in point of view characters! Next chapter will be back with Steele as he meets the captain. As always, I'd love you hear your comments!


	4. Monologues and Duels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steele is brought before the Captain as Jensen and her squad are pinned down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! The chapter starts a little before the end of the last chapter and they overlap. I also Realized I didn't really explain the Garrison troops well. They are the recruits for the Planetary Defense Force, who aren't old enough to be full members. Imagine a grim dark ROTC. Enjoy!

Steele

"On your knees!" I heard a mumbled voice shout before I felt, what I assumed was a rifle hit out the back of my knees as I grunted. The bag was ripped from my head and I blinked as the bright colors made my head spin. I started to finally be able to see and I didn't like what I saw. I had two glory boys on each side, both with rifles and helmets and the third was in front of me. He was clearly their vox caster from the backpack and had no helmet. He was handing both of my weapons to the man I guessed was the commander. He was a bigger man with a huge pot belly and double chin. He had a crisp white dress shirt on under a red vest with about forty medals covered with a massive trench coat with golden buttons. We were in a round room with many nervous half man half robot ad mechs, scribes, astropaths from the fleet, and other high ranking members.

"Sergeant Steele." He commented examining the weapons. "I've heard so much about you from your former commander. I'm glad you finally could stop by." He said making me laugh harshly despite the pain in my chest.

"Yeah, what a coincidence that your men beat me up and put a bag over my head and brought me to you." I scoffed. "It's like the universe wanted us to meet. Also, it's Lieutenant, jackass!" I threw in causing the two guards to start beating me with their rifles.

"You do not speak to a superior like that!" One shouted until the commander held up his hand for them to stop.

"He was correct about your temper, and I must make any promotion valid, so you are still a Sergeant." He chimed still looking over my pistol. "Such… unusual weapons for a sergeant, don't you think?" He chimed as I gritted my teeth. "A custom hotshot laspistol, very tricky to make and illegal if I remember correctly." He mused before handing it to a guard. "And a combat knife!" He said excited seeing the relic blade. "Somebody wants to be a space marine!" He laughed handing it to one of the men holding me.

"I'm going to need that back in a minute." I told the man but he just gave me a nice smack to the back of the head.

"Also, illegal I believe, you have quite a few offenses hanging from your belt there, Sergeant." He monologued while pacing.

"Hey, the standard gear that you give me wasn't doing the trick, I got creative." I said.

"Are you suggesting what I think you are, Sergeant?" He said coming closer to me. "Are you suggesting that our armory hasn't given you the right tools? Are you questioning the Emperors great army?" He sneered as my ear piece cut in.

"Steele, green light, I repeat, we found the weapons and armor." Jensen said as he kicked me in the gut.

"Is that what you are saying?" He growled in my face.

"No, what I'm saying is that you're sitting on a garage full of heavy weapons and armor." I grinned before he punched me.

"Liar!" He shouted.

"I have men staring it right now." I grinned despite the blood dripping down from my nose. "The jig is up, sir." I commented before the guard's rifle hitting me between the shoulder blades stopped me.

"Well Steele, you just signed you own death warrant and the one of your men if they aren't already dead!" He shouted drawing his pistol but I was faster. I slammed my guards together and pulled the glove from my pocket and slapped the commander across the face with a smirk. He stood their baffled as I dropped the glove.

"I challenge you to a duel, if you refuse, you forfeit your position as Commander." I grinned at his shocked look. "It's tradition, and recognized by every officer of this planet." 

"And what's to stop me from just shooting you?" He spat.

"Honor, how are your men to respect you if they won't even duel a lowly Sergeant?" I smirked. 

"Very well." He growled before pulling out his three-foot power sword as I realized this probably wasn't the best idea. He dropped his trench coat and charged. He sliced at me but I pulled back just in time to feel my hair stand on end from the power field. I pulled out my small knife which looked tiny by comparison. I knew I needed to get to my gear if I was going to have any chance.

"Nice badges, how many of those are actually yours?" I smirked jumping out of the way of a wide charge before running to jump up and slam one of the guards to the ground. I pulled my scabbard from his belt and clipped it to mine before punching the other guard who was getting up dazed. I dove to my side as a blade whizzed past. "Suggestion, if you are going claim they are your medals, at least get the right regiment!" I smirked drawing my blade. We met in the middle of the round room with our blades crossed as he looked confused.

"How? It should have cut it in half." He sputtered as we separated as I threw some small slashes and a few pokes that he struggled to deal with as I explained.

"This is McKnight's old sword." I said as he kept backing up. "He was given it by the Blood Angel Chapter Master." I said easily turning aside predictable swings from the man. "See, he was a true leader and when the Angelic Host was knocked to the ground by a giant heretical beast, he led his squad at it without fear. Dante saw the young sergeant around its neck stabbing it with just a field knife. He eventually struck down the heretic and looked around him. While other guardsmen and even fellow Blood Angels watched on, stunned, the brave sergeant risked his life to kill it. He gave him this as a symbol of his gratitude for his bravery." I said before going on a brutal offensive. "So, you feel like a leader? You ready to fight by my side? You ready to give us those heavy weapons?" I asked as he started an offensive.

"I will be a hero when those weapons are used to wipe out the xenos! I will rule over this whole planet!" He shouted but I could tell he was getting tired.

"You're holding it ransom to control the army and the city?" I shouted in outrage. "My men died because of your selfish power grab?" I shouted smashing the man back as I started a flurry of swings, pokes and knife stabs. He staggered back as cuts started appearing all over his jackets and armor. I stabbed forward and punched through his armor and into his chest as he fell to the ground. "Now stay down." I growled as I turned to the crowd that watched on stunned. "You are my witnesses!" I announced. "I plan to…" I trailed off when I heard a click behind me. I spun as the las shot whizzed past me as I grabbed my standard issue knife and flung it underhand hitting the commander right between the eyes. A spray of blood came out as it hit him and his eyes rolled back as he fell to the ground. "You've been relieved of your post." I growled taking his scabbard and power sword. I wiped my knife on his jacket before sheathing it. I stood and saw all of the people watching us kneel bowing their heads.

"Long live Captain Steele!" They shouted as my eyes widened. Suddenly one of the men on a vox spoke up.

"Sir we have reports of Tempestus troops fighting a band of guardsmen and what seems to be parts of the garrison!" He told me making me curse.

"Get me a line to Guardsman Jensen!" I snapped.

"Yes sir!" He said setting the frequency. "Ready." He said as I snatched the horn.

"Jensen, come in!" I said and I heard a cough.

"Steele?" She replied shakily.

"Yeah, it's me. What's going on?"

"Glory Boys are firing on us, our squad and that Garrison sergeant are in the barracks trying to hold our ground." I cursed.

"Hang in there Jen, I'll call them off and be there as soon as I can." I said before hanging up. "I need a bird and a line to the tempestus units!" I said as I started towards the door.

"But sir, there is so much to discuss about your new position!" One of the advisors said.

"First I have to save my men!" I snapped as I took the horn again.

"This is Tempestor Jones, sir. I'm sorry to report that guardsmen breached the barracks. We are taking care of that problem now." A voice told me.

"Jones, your old commander is dead, this is your new commander." I told him. "I order you to ceasefire!"

"Who is this?" He questioned.

"Captain Steele, and I'm telling you to stand down!" I shouted back.

"I'm continuing on my last orders from my real commander." He said before the line went dead as I let out a string of curses.

"Put out to every damn radio in this fortress!" I snapped as the man started typing away as fast as he could. He finally nodded as I reached a landing pad that was empty.

"This is an all call for the 101st Mountain Garrison!" I said. "This is Captain Steele, I relieved our old Commander of his duties as he has turned from the light of the Emperor and has been sending our men to slaughter by withholding equipment that could have turned the tide against these foul xeno scum." I explained as a Valkyrie landed on the pad. "His Tempestus men have been hiding this equipment in their barracks and now they are going against my direct orders and are firing upon our own men. I need all able-bodied troops to muster at the coordinates I am sending. This is your last chance to abandon your positions Glory Boys, I promise you will be put into a new unit with Guardsmen if you drop your arms now." I said as the coordinates sent and I hung up the horn. "Put that on loop until we land."

****

I got out of the shuttle and saw a muster of maybe fifty men. I saw a lot of bandages, scars, prosthetics, and customized armor and weapons in the group. I saw a friendly face approaching me as I smiled.

"McKnight!" I said hugging the old man.

"Glad to see you to Steele." He smiled giving me a quick salute so I did the same.

"Where did you get this many guys?" I asked gesturing to a crowd.

"A lot of people are willing to come back if they know that they have a good leader." He smiled.

"Do you want your weapons back sir?" I said gesturing to my weapons but he shook his head.

"You deserve them, though where did you get a power sword?" He asked.

"I dueled the commander and won." I smirked as his eyes widened. "I got the sword off him." I said and I climbed on some rubble to look down on them.

"Officer on rubble!" One guy joked as they kind of formed three mobs while two squads of garrison formed nice even lines.

"Good morning Guardsman!" I said and they replied with varying levels sarcasm. "I realize that many of you have come back despite going through hell so I say thank you and may the Emperor smile upon you." I said to the veterans that all grumbled back. "And I realize that some of us have never seen the barrel of an enemy gun but still are here to support their fellow guardsman. For that I say thank you and may the Emperor protect you all." I said to the young men and women in stiff rows. "Now we will break into to two groups, McKnight will take half of his men and a squad of the fresh blood around the south side of the residential building, the rest follow me to the other side." I said as we broke in two. The young Sergeant ran up.

"What can I do for you sir?" He asked.

"Get me a vox up here." I said as he ran back.

"Need me sir?" The young vox caster asked timidly.

"Yeah, get on the horn and hook me up with Jensen." I said as he fumbled with the equipment before getting it ready but compared to what I was used to it took ages.

"Go for Jensen." I heard my friend wheeze.

"This is Steele, what's it look like in there?" I asked.

"Well," She coughed violently. "we are mainly just firing blindly in the direction that the shots are coming from." She coughed.

"Casualties?" I asked.

"I had a dud bolter shell in my chest but the doc says I'll be fine." She coughed violently. "Also, a couple Whiteshields have been clipped but nothing too bad." I swore.

"Okay, just tell them to fire everything they got when they hear a whistle." I told her.

"Yes sir." She said dizzily.

"Keep safe, Jen." I told her before hanging up. "Give me everyone." I told him. "Tempestors, this your last chance to go peacefully. If you do not surrender, you will feel the full weight of the Emperors might!" I told them.

"Never!" Was the answer so I nodded and whistled as loudly as I could. I heard a high pitched voice shouting commands as lasfire peppered the tempestors who were forced to duck from the sheer weight of shots. "Now!" I shouted as my men seemed to appear from the rubble like ants defending their home. We swarmed forward guns blazing. "For the Emperor!" I shouted as some of the tempestors turned on their own men. By the time I reached them I was taking on maybe five of the previous twenty men. I decked the first man with the knuckle guard of my power sword before slamming my knife in his chest. I spun my blade and put the power sword through another's chest. Suddenly a blow in the back sent me sprawling. I looked up to see the tempestor Sargent stood over me with his power sword drawn back. Before he could swing a lasbolt bounced off his shoulder making him turned just in time to see the sergeant of the garrison squad I had met earlier that day charging him. I rolled to my feet as the young sergeant swung his chainsword but the commander easily blocked it and slashed across his chest sending him sprawling. I smashed the man as I slipped my combat knife into his side. He tried to get up but my power sword slashed across his chest with a spray of blood. I turned and helped up the young sergeant who luckily had only a thin line of blood dripping from his chest.

"T-Thank you sir!" He said in awe.

"Hey, I'm just looking out for my troops." I said. "Head over to the medicae tent to get that patched up, you don't want blood on your uniform, especially during the medal ceremony." I smiled as his eyes lit up. "But first we gotta finish off the damn greenskins." I said clapping him on the back before I saw Jen limping out as Johnson held her up. "Jen!" I shouted rushing over to her.

"I'm fine!" She said waving me off. "You have more important things to worry about Steele." She said but before I could argue I heard Ash yell at me.

"Hey, Cap!" I heard him shout. "You might want to see this!" He said as he was standing next to a man in a uniform of a ground crew for our naval element.

"What do you got for me?" I asked as I jogged over.

"Sir, I was told to give this to you." He said handing me a picture.

"Is this what I think it is?" I asked as I looked at the picture of a clearing in the forest that had previously been an ork camp but now is was empty and there was a huge path of destruction heading out of it.

"I'm afraid so." The man said. "Last estimate was around a hundred orks, a few herds of gretchin, a good squad of nobz, a lot of bikes, two groups of meganobz, a group of killa kans, and… uh, a massive walker." He said making me shake my head.

"Any storm boyz?" I asked.

"Just a few, not many." He said as my hand tapped my hand on the hilt of my power sword.

"How long do we have?" I asked.

"An hour or so at the most." I cursed.

"Cap," Ash put in. "if you give me free reign on what's in that barracks, I could put a dent in them and buy you sometime." He grinned. "Oh, and maybe that old taurox!"

"That thing has been broken for a while, Ash." I said but he grinned.

"I ain't planning on driving it." He grinned.

"Okay, whatever you are going to do, do it fast. Take the veterans with you and make sure you don't put anyone in danger unnecessarily." I said as he nodded. "Give 'em hell!" I grinned as he rushed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another promotion, he's going up the ladder fast! Next chapter Jensen will be leading a mission to delay the orks advance.


	5. A Deadly Game of Keep Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jensen leads a small force to delay the Orkish assault, and buy time for the defenders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! We'll be switching back to Jensen's point of view for this chapter. Enjoy!

Jensen

"So… you sure this isn't a ork vehicle?" I asked Ash as I stared at the vehicle in front of me.

"Yes, I just wanted some extra firepower!" He said proudly. He had somehow attached the two rocket pods of the broken down taurox prime to the side of the chimera.

"And why are they facing backwards?" I asked looking at it.

"We are supposed to lead them on a chase, so they'll be behind us! Now hop in, we don't have much time!" He urged as I begrudgingly got into the tank.

"And you wonder why the techpreists hate you." I grumbled as I sat down along next to some guardsman from our old company, Easy company. "So what's my job?"

"Fire your pistol out the back door every once in awhile and keep us in contact with Steele." He explained as the Chimera shuttered to life.

"Wait, the back door?" I asked as I noticed the door had been removed.

"I'd buckle up!" He grinned before we lurched forward.

"I swear to the Golden Throne, I'm going to kill you Ash!" I shouted fumbling with the safety harness.

****

"Ork mob, dead ahead!" The driver shouted through the vox between the cab and the back.

"Opening up!" I head one of the guys shouted, firing the autocannon out of the top hatch as shell casings tinged off the floor of our armored transport. Six of the other men operated the lasgun arrays as I tried to not get thrown from my seat. I saw a flash of white out of the corner of my eye so I looked over. I cursed in surprise as a servoskull was hovering next to me as its empty sockets seemed to stare at me. It started chattering quickly but I could only pick up half of it over the explosions, gunfire, and shouting of insults.

"Hey Ash!" I shouted as he was sticking his head out of the hatch. He ducked down.

"Who's your new friend?" He asked making me glare at him.

"This is the machine spirit you pissed off strapping rockets to him and taking off the back door!" I shouted over the noise.

"Well, talk to it, isn't that what you do?" He said going back to firing his plasma gun out the hatch. I turned back to the very angry machine spirit.

"Uh, great spirit, I, we, are very sorry for our modifications." I said to the skull but apparently that wasn't enough. "Yes, I agree the taurox is nowhere near the power and reliability, we just need as many weapons as we can, so we ask that you would please help us by firing the rockets." I said as I saw the trukks chasing us getting closer. It replied angrily but never the less a thundering sound echoed through the hull as rockets smashed into the front two trukks sending them flipping through the air. I thanked the machine spirit as I fired my newly acquired bolt pistol at the bikes behind us.

"Jen?" I heard a familiar voice ask on my headset.

"I'm here Steele." I answered back firing my pistol.

"What's your status?" He asked as we swerved and the ground where we had been exploded.

"Well, the techpriest is going to kill Ash when he sees his chimeras but we haven't had any casualties reported yet." I said as I saw multilasers cut down a gang of ork bikers. "How are the preparations going?" I asked as I heard a shout in the background.

"We have as many people along the lines as we have armor and guns." He said grimly. "I put the civilians and younglings towards the back and we have three lines of defensive battlements. I think we are ready for you, there are three holes in the lines just big enough for the chimeras. Get back here as soon as possible but use the auxiliary bridge." He said before he cut out. I got on my vox to the other two squads pulling distraction.

"Okay boys, we have orders to haul ass back to base." I said which was met with grunts and cheers. We stopped and spun on the spot before gunning it towards the confused orks. Our multilasers, heavy bolters, and autocannons punched a hole through their armor while our weight and momentum carried us through the rank and file boyz. I started firing my two pistols into the mob as we sped through them. I heard a bellowing ork voices over all the chaos.

"'Come on ladz!" The voice said which was nearly unintelligible. "Letz show dez humies are dakka!" I heard making me curse.

"Brace for fire!" I shouted to everyone as suddenly a sound like thunder rang out as the air was filled with lead. We swerved as rokkits whizzed past and some exploded way to close for comfort. Suddenly the wall behind exploded sending me sprawling. I picked myself up as everything moved in slow motion and a high pitched whine. I held on to the wall to keep myself upright as sound slowly started to come back.

"Jen!" I heard Ash shout. I looked over at him as the servoskull was chattering at me. "Talk to this thing!" It turned to me and started a sting on damage reports.

"One outer hull breaches detected, one inner hull breach, power to sixty percent…" I trialed off. "Great machine spirit, what do we have that works?"

"How are we?" Ash asked.

"Rockets are down, power is dropping." I started talking to the servoskull again. "Please divert all available power to the treads so we can avoid sustaining more damage." I told him.

"Sir, the other chimera is trailing black smoke!" A man shouted so I got on the phone.

"Get to the defensive line!" I told the other two.

"Respectfully, Ma'am, what in the Golden Throne do think we are trying to do?" One man shot back.

"Ma'am, I'm not sure we are going to make it there." The other vox caster told me.

"You are going to get there, soldier." I snapped. "What's your status?"

"Thirty percent power, weapons are down, and we got a new fire point."

"Send me your report via spirits." I said and listened as my machine spirit gave me the rundown. "I'd advise you transfer all your power to the motors and avoid taking another hit." I said as I saw the bridge in view.

"How exactly?" He snapped back as I heard shouting in the background.

"Evasive maneuvers." I suggested before Ash interrupted me.

"How are they?" He asked.

"They have one internal breach and another external one, it isn't good. If they take another hit, they'll be dead in the water." I said as we shifted to the nice cement of the bridge.

"Uh, also why are we leading them on to the bridge?" One soldier asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure but Steele said he had a plan." I shrugged as the sound of autocannons was a welcomed noise as we saw some of the trukks and bikes go down.

"Where is our big weapons?" One man shouted as he fired his lasgun array. I heard a massive thud and then a screaming sound from behind us.

"Incoming!" One of the gunners shouted before an explosion rocked my gut as I covered my eyes. I lowered it to see the injured one chimera explode as my vox went crazy. "Shit! What should we do?" I looked around and saw that everyone was looking at me making me curse.

"Lead Chimera, get to the line. Tell Steele to give us some cover fire." I said before standing to the back of the chimera. "My squad, either come with me or cover us!" I shouted as the chimera slowed as I jumped out and staggered as I barely keeping my footing. I fired my pistol and dropped one of the nearest boyz. I looked behind me and saw I had Ash and two other men who had shotguns. "Let's go!" We started jogging towards the burning wreck trying to shoot any ork that got near the burning wreck. I saw men stumbling out of the wreck as we go closer. A group of bikers zoomed towards the stunned men so I fired both pistols at the bikers dropping one as two plasma blasts knocked two free of their bikes as the others swerved out of the way of the shotgun blasts as we got to the group.

"There's too many!" One guardsman shouted but I was louder.

"Circle around the chimera!" I shouted as the ork bikes got close enough to see there disgusting features as they raised their choppas ready to hit us. I shouted an order but another voice joined with it.

"Fire!" Me and the voice I knew shouted together. The nearest biker was twice the size of the rest with a huge buzz saw on his arm that he drew back as my shot whistled past him. Suddenly his shoulder exploded in a blur of fire and green flesh. Another heavy bolter round caught him square in the chest and with a flash he was just limbs and a bike. The rest of the bikers swerved but it didn't stop autocannons and heavy bolters from chewing through them until they were a pile of assorted scrap metal and chunks of rancid meat. I turned and saw Steele with a grin on his face standing on our chimera as I could see he had at least three squads of men laying down lasgun fire making the ork boyz stagger back. Johnson was standing next to him holding up the flag as Phillips stood on the other side with his lasgun firing. I ducked into the chimera and saw the sergeant passed out with some blood dripping from his head so I holstered my laspistol. I threw him over my shoulder and got out as I surveyed the area. The orks were coming in fast and trukks were bolting past us as our window to escape started to close.

"Let's go!" I shouted as we started running as the heavy weapons tried to open a path as we ran as fast as we could but a group of boyz stood in our way to the chimera. "Fire!" I shouted as I dropped one of the boyz with a bolter shell to the head. Heavy weapons help whittled them down until it was just four boyz and a nob left. I grabbed one of my men and handed him the sergeant after taking his chainsword. "Take the boyz, I'll take the nob." I told him and he nodded. "Hey jolly green!" I shouted pointing to the nob. "Let's dance!" I pulled out my standard knife as he snorted. He was about seven feet tall even when slouched. He had a metal piece attached to his horned helmet that was shaped like a jagged jaw.

"Youz mad 'umie!" He laughed but stopped when I charged him. He grunted as he heaved his big choppa over his shoulder and swung with a hit that would have chopped me in half but I side stepped and felt the wind on my face. He grunted and swung it sideways but I dived towards him and rolled to my feet in front of him. I grabbed his metal jaw piece and pulled myself up so I could place my feet on the massive metal sheets covering his shoulders. I slammed my chainsword in his face causing gore to spray everywhere along with chunks of bone as his cries were drown out be my chainsword before I pulled it out and dropped down to my feet. I turned as the giant fell and saw a guardsman fire a pointblank shot into a downed ork in the face.

"Come on! Back to the chimera!" I shouted gesturing to run through the gap we had made. We charged forward firing everything we had. We stomped over the bodies as we finally reached the chimera. Steele helped me up and Phillips helped up Ash.

"Nice to see you." Steele grinned. "Now let's show these brutes our full power."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are looking quite desperate, but Steele still has something up his sleeve. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Next chapter is the finale!


	6. The Final Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With orks about to march into the city, Steele enacts his plan. But not everything goes according to said plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Here's the finale of the piece!

Steele

"All infantry outside the barriers, move back to your positions. Heavy weapons, give us some breathing room." I said into the radio as I slammed on the top of the chimera which started backing into its spot on the line. Another wave of fist size shells started punching orks from their feet as the men hurried into position behind the aegis defense line.

"So, what's the plan?" Jen asked me as she fired her bolt pistol into the nearest enemy.

"Well we need to hold them a little longer." I said is I grabbed some binoculars off my belt and read the numbers on my target. I grabbed the horn again and dialed it to one of the heavy weapons squads. "Fire on these coordinates." I listed the numbers and smiled as I heard the scream of mortars. The line I had targeted was hit with a wall of explosions but more green skins filled in the space almost instantly.

"What are we waiting for?" She asked as I heard the sound of giant crushing footsteps.

"That." I grinned setting the vox on her back. A forty-foot swath of trees suddenly were smashed out of the way by two huge metal claw that was as tall as Jensen. At its feet were ten foot tall walker the waddled along with it like baby ducks. It was a massive walking scrap heap with a classic yellow ork face made of scrape metal on it with as black smoke poured from behind the head. It was a hodgepodge of metal plates in various states of disrepair and colors. Its other arm was a huge collection of pipes that point towards us. "Cover!" I shouted as my squad jumped behind the chimera as storm of lead slammed into the side but it held.

"You were waiting for a giant killer mek?" Jen shouted at me.

"It's a vital part of the plan!" I shouted back as I climbed back up. "Now get me an all call."

"You're a crazy bastard, you know that, right?" She shot back as she set the channel.

"My guardsman, I know this xeno machine is a monstrous sight, but I can assure you that if you run then you will allow this filth to wash over our city, our homes, our families! Do you want to see these green skins slaughtering our families?" I asked as I saw men cowering all along the lines. "As long as I still draw breath I will protect your families, your homes, and I hope I will not be alone against this tide but I will if I must." I promised. "Now if you want to save your city, stand! Take heart that you are not alone! Do not fight for me, fight for your home, for your families!" I shouted. "Now show these brutes the fearless determination of the 101st Mountain!" I shouted as I heard cheers as waves of lasfire scythed through the horde of orks in front of us. I set the vox to a different channel as I watched the walker stomp towards the bridge. "Is everything set?" I asked.

"The plan is in place and we have eyes on the target." The voice told me making me smile.

"Let's raise a little hell." I smiled with a glint in my eyes. "Fire." Suddenly the trees were alive with rockets and lascannons. The lasers punched through the weak back armor of the walker making it shutter as fire and smoke started bursting for the chest. The killa kans panicked and tried to retreat away from the fire but rockets punched through their backs making them explode as did most of the heavy equipment in the back of the enemy line. We cheered as the Gorkanought fel sideways and small explosions burst through the hull. "On my mark." I told him.

"Standing by."

"Where did they come from?" Jen said in shock.

"They went under the bridge." I smiled.

"Why?" She asked confused.

"Let me answer that. Hit it." I told the man on the radio. A second later a huge sound of exploding caused most to duck and look around for the source of the noise.

"Steele, what did you do?" Jen asked as a rumble started as I grabbed the horn. "Don't let them off the bridge!" I shouted as the orks started running towards us as cracks started to spider web across the surface. My men shouted and started firing at the closest thing but some of the bikes and vehicles were getting close as the center of the bridge started to collapse. I saw right in the center was a battlewagon roaring towards us and I could tell who was in it from the markings. "It's 'Imb Rippa." I growled unsheathing my blade. He was just out pacing the collapse as he, and two big nobz climbed onto the roof. Suddenly the battlewagon lurched and suddenly disappeared. I let out a breath out as I surveyed the battle line. The last of the orks were being overwhelmed with shots or bayonets all along the line. Full squads were fighting random groups of confused orks who fell easily. My smiled died on my lips when I heard an outraged voice thunder out.

"'Umies! Youz kant kill 'Imb Rippa!" I heard a roar as the ork warboss flew up on a jump pack making me curse pulling my pistol. Two nobz came up with him as they landed on the edge of where the bridge had been. I grabbed Jen's shoulder.

"Take the nobz, and if I go down, you're in charge." I told her but before she could react I turned and faced the massive greenskin. He was at least nine feet, with a massive red power klaw on his right arm. His left arm was thicker than my head and held a massive pistol that had a rokkit strapped to it. He had a grisly trophy on his back of the heads of eldar, tau, necrons, space marines and an Imberial guard helmet on the top. His one eye was robotic and he had massive plates of armor on his shoulders, and the jagged metal jaw most nobz wore. A squig ran around on its leash, yapping like a small dog. "Do you want to die honorably or like the dog you are?" I shouted at the beast.

"DIE 'UMIE!" He shouted firing the rocket which did a corkscrew and flew over my shoulder before detonating harmlessly making me laugh and then fire a shot that hit his gun causing it to explode. I smiled until I heard a roar as he charged out of the smoke. I fired a few quick shots but he shrugged them off as I pulled out my power sword. I matched his crazy yell and charged back. I spun my power sword in my hand before spinning on my right foot at the last second as his power klaw went through empty air as I stabbed my sword into his exposed back. I withdrew it quickly and ducked as he turned swinging his klaw over my head and stabbed my knife into his leg.

He roared and swung down nearly catching me in a deadly overhead smash but I rolled out of the way. He pulled out a choppa which was basically a giant meat cleaver and swung it across his body and it managed to catch my armor making me grunt from the force of the blow.

I staggered back shaking my head and looked up just in time to see the choppa so I was just able to glance it to the side. I jumped back to avoid being sent into orbit be the klaw upper cut. I slashed his klaw and it start shooting out some steam but it didn't seem to do much. I deflected another overhead choppa swing and rolled under his legs and punched my power sword through his metal chest plate and it came out his front making him roar.

I wound up to punch my knife through but a pair of razor sharp teeth chomped down on my leg making me scream.

"Ha! Good boy 'ulligan!" The ork boomed as I punted the squig with my other foot sending him flying just to be yanked back by the warboss like a bitey wrecking ball. I chopped the squig in half as it went flying towards me.

"Down boy." I grinned darkly at the angry looking ork. He jerked his arm and the chain swept my legs sending me down to my hands and knees which is all he needed. I rolled and raised the power sword to hold back his massive klaw but it shattered as he thrust the arm forward. My mind exploded as my left arm was sheered from my body. I screamed and rolled away as he laughed and held my arm up as a trophy. I blinked my eyes rapidly as huge black dots swam in front of me. I rolled over and punched the ground but the feeling of my shoulder burning made me fall. I heard distantly the grunting of men fighting and I heard Jen shouting commands. I pushed myself to my hands and knees as the massive warboss shouted at Jen and her men.

"Ha! No 'un beats 'Imb Rippa!" He shouted gloating as I shakily got to my feet. "Deffly no 'umie!" I limped over to the beast as he laughed as some of the men raised their guns but Jen stopped them. I growled as I kicked the back of the orks knee making him fall to his knees with a small cry of surprise. I swung my knife as hard as I could and hit the ork in the neck and went out the other side. I fell to my knees as the ugly head thumped against the ground followed by the body.

"Ha, who's next?" I muttered and then I immediately blacking out.

****

I woke up to a clanging noise.

"I should have helped him!" I heard Johnson shout as I heard another crash of metal equipment.

"Calm down, man!" Ash shouted back. I heard grunting and meaty smacks as I tried to open my eyes.

"Calm down both of you!" I heard Jen shout at the two as I looked over and saw her yank Ash off the ground. "He isn't dead, you dumbasses!" She shouted. As my vision cleared and I saw that they were all still covered in blood and grim and had some bandages on them. "I don't need you two beating each other up right now! Ash, go find that girl from the house, she seemed to like you. And Johnson… there's got to be a girl drunk enough for you right now. So, go! Get!" She said herding the two out of the white med tent we were in.

"I don't know," I croaked making Jen spin around. "I don't think anyone is that drunk." I managed a weak grin as she ran over and hugged me. I yelped making her step back blushing as she fixed her ponytail.

"Sorry, forgot about the ribs." She said trying to regain her calm composure. "It's a miracle that your alive Steele. If Phillips hadn't been there, you would have bled out." I tried to think but my head stopped me.

"Wait, what happened?" I asked as she handed me water as I propped myself up on my right arm and grabbed it with my left. I started to drink then looked down and spit out my water as my fist smashed the plastic cup. "Holy shit!" I cursed looking as my metal hand. I looked down it and saw my arm was metal tubes and pistons all the way down my arm and my shoulder as about two inches around my shoulder.

"You got your ass handed to you by a ork warboss if I remember correctly." She said dryly as I moved my fingers and watched the inner workings move.

"Did I win?" I asked making her cock an eyebrow.

"You got your arm chopped off and you're asking if you won?" She scuffed as I nodded. "You managed to chop its head off before you passed out." She said.

"Ha! I knew I'd kill it!" I said as I spun in my bed and slowly stood.

"The arm is just temporary, the cogboys said that they could build you something new that is stronger and most powerful." She explained before looking up as she tapped her commbead.

"What in the?" She said as she answered her vox. "Go ahead for Jensen." She listened and her eyes went wide as I tried some sword moves with my new arm. "When?" She practically squeaked. "Uh, yeah I'll try to get him presentable." She said before hanging up.

"What was that?" I asked as she looked around panicked.

"We have to find you clothes!" She said as she ran into the other room as I looked around and found nothing so I decided to follow her. I saw a couple of the nurses were staring at me as they were grabbing materials.

"Anyone seen my stuff?" I asked the nurses as one's eyes lit up as she rushed away. "What's going on?" I shouted after her but was only answered by having a shirt thrown at me. I looked at it and whipped out my knife and cut off the arm before putting it on. The nurse entered and handed my helmet, armor, and weapons. "Thank you, Ma'am." I said as she blushed as she curtsied and ran away. I put my pistol on my right hip and put my blade on my other hip and clipped on my helmet, binoculars and water on the belt as I took a look at my armor that was cracked and still had blood sprayed across it. I donned it and clipped it as I walked outside of the med tent. "So what are you… oh." I started but looked up and saw a man standing over me and a man my size next to him.

I recognized the ones shoulder pad as it marked him as the man in charge of the 101st Armored Division which had been on the other side of the world since the orks showed up. The second man tower over both of us by at least a couple feet. He wore bright red power armor that was beautifully made. The chest plate was sculptured to peak muscle mass and the shoulder pad was black with three blood drops while the other was two wings wrapped around a black circle with the same three blood drops. I could see names etched into each amazingly detailed feather. He had a golden scabbard that had the level of detail found from decades of mastery of a craft. His right arm was in a massive shield that was two wings the size of me put together. His face could only be described as handsome with a chiseled jaw, bright blue eyes, and pale blonde hair.

"Captain Steele I presume?" The massive Space Marine said extending his free hand. I gulped and nodded as I shook his hand with my metal one. "I am Captain Sendini, Keeper of the Arsenal, I lead the 5th Company Daemonbanes."

"Captain Steele of the 101st Mountain Garrison, sir." I said finally getting over the shock of a Blood Angel talking to me. "What can my men and I do for you?" I asked.

"Would you mind if I talked to you while we wander?" He asked as I glanced at Jensen.

"If I can bring my advisor." I said gesturing to Jensen as the man nodded. We started as Jensen hurried up to catch us.

"Thank you, I am still restless from the Angelic Blade." The man said as he walked.

"I can only imagine sir." I said as we passed walking wounded who stopped their card games to stare at the massive man.

"I must ask, where did you acquire that blade?" He asked glancing at McKnight's sword.

"I was given this by my old senior officer when he was injured and I had to take command in a battle with some greenskins." I explained as the man nodded as his gaze swept over the streets that we were walk down. "Years ago, McKnight was sent to assist the first company of Blood Angels against a heretic assault. A heretic monstrosity managed to get a lucky shot on the Chapter Master but before he could capitalize on his luck, McKnight lead his ten-man infantry squad at the Heretic." I explained as I remembered hearing it in the Whiteshield barracks. "McKnight jumped on its back and stabbed him with his standard issue knife, distracting the beast so that the Angelic Host could get a clear shot and kill it. Impressed he gave this combat knife as token of thanks. It has managed to save my life already and I've had it for only a few days." I said handing the blade to him.

"This is a work of art. Only the Archangel could make something that simple to delicately." He muttered before handing it back to me. "So, you have worked with my brothers before?"

"Yes, my lord." Jensen answered this time. "But many years ago, before out last Commander, we were an army not merely a garrison."

"And what happened to this old commander?" He asked making me gulp.

"Well sir, after investigation our squad found that he was holding supplies from us to blackmail the governor into giving him full power." Jensen explained.

"So what did you do?" The post human asked us with scrutinizing eyes.

"I challenged him to a duel." I said trying to sound confident as the man gave me an odd look. "I won and was going to spare him but he tried to shoot me in the back so I was forced to end him." I said grimly as the massive man gave me a look. "We would all be dead if that coward was still in charge, I did what I needed to do, to protect my people." He nodded in response.

"So sir, if you do not mind me asking, why have you come to our planet?" Jensen asked and the man scowled.

"Recently, my battle brothers and I were ambushed by the cowardly Black Legion." He explained as his hand drummed on his sword hilt. "We took heavy casualties but we already have new orders." He sighed shaking his head.

"How heavy of casualties?" I asked.

"We have half of our Devastators and Tactical squads left, a third of our Assault Marines, and a small detachment of Sanguinary Guard. That's why we have come to you." He said nodding to a sentry who saluted him as he past. "We have decided that we could use a detachment of men like yours and you would also have the armored division under your command." My eyes went wide.

"We would be honored!" I said. "What would our job be?" I asked.

"You would run missions from your ship like we do and when we need you, we will fight side by side." He explained. "You would of course have to recruit and bring your own equipment on your own ship but we may be able to supply you with some carapace armor as none of it is being used by scouts as all of our scouts have become fully fledged marines." He said.

"We would have to take a few days to get the paperwork done, but I feel this would be a good union of our troops." I said shaking the man's massive armored hand. "Jen, please get a muster together." I told her as she nodded. "I think this is he beginning of a good relationship."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading this, I hoped you enjoyed it. I will be doing more stories about Captain Steele and the 101st Mountain. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions so I can be a better writer!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you're enjoying this story so far! I will have the rest of the piece up soon. I welcome comments and feed back to know what you think, and how I can get better! Thank you!


End file.
